Walls and how to break them
by whiskered
Summary: When undeniably strange witch Ava arrives at Hogwarts in their fifth year, the marauders are intent on unraveling this latest mystery. Ava, on the other hand, could want nothing less than to let anyone in that close. When the nature hidden under her confusing exterior could be enough to get her killed, perhaps it should stay hidden. / slow burn, but expect romance eventually
1. Chapter One

**Chapter one**

She'd always known that not everything in her life was quite right. That had never been something she would dispute. For the first ten years of her life, her father's gentle comfort was enough to assure her that whilst it wasn't as it should be, it was still okay. The isolation was okay, the lack of people or purpose or explanation, that he would always keep from her, was okay.

Until the day that he left, and didn't come back. She was left alone, with their tiny cottage in the forest and old orange moggy, Bumble. He was always welcome company.

She stayed just like she always had, looking after the plants and cooking like she used to with her father, playing with Bumble and the other forest creatures that lingered around the area happily enough, reading the same collection of books over and over again until she knew each word by word, and -more than she ever had before his disappearance - taking short walks through the forest; never further than the magical boundary he had set up long in the past. She had paced the area enough times to know that her father had done just that, exactly as he had always told her not to. She pushed the rising feeling of helplessness down time after time, but sometimes it was enough to consume her. Especially after enough time passed for her to know that he wouldn't be coming back.

On her 11th birthday, there was an owl. The owl, a tawny little thing with clever amber eyes, had swooped through her open window and landed on the bed in front of her. There was nothing surprising about it at first, she had always got along with the other inhabitants of the forest as if it were the most natural thing in the world, so having creatures come and go from the cottage at will was hardly unusual, but this particular owl had a letter clamped in its beak. That was certainly a first. It invited her to "Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry", and she put it on top of the bookshelf, where it stayed collecting dust for the next year, when another one joined it, and then another the next, and another.

In the fifth year, she didn't get a letter. Instead, late in the day, when the sun had almost finished setting and she thought that the fourth letter must simply have been the last, there was a light knock on the door.

Her heart leapt into her throat and she panicked, dropping the wooden spoon she had been using to leap from the kitchen counter and shifting in mid-air, hitting the wooden floor on all four paws and darting into the living room, where she promptly curled up under the sofa with her eyes on the door. Mewling softly, Bumble crouched to join her, brushing his fur against hers reassuringly.

There was another set of knocks.

And soon after, more knocks.

After a few long minutes with no response, a small flash of light lit up the keyhole from outside, and the door swung open. Her ears flattened to her head as a man in lengthy, sweeping grey robes stepped into the house. His eyes glinted merrily, even as she could see the confusion pull his –surprisingly wispy- eyebrows together. She watched tensely as he looked around the room for a few drawn-out moments, before his eyes settled on her, crouched and furrier than a young witch should be at any point in time, under the sofa. He smiled, almost as if he was expecting such a thing.

"Hello dear. I take it you would be Ava?" He paused to nod to himself. "There's no need to be afraid, I'm a friend. That is, after all, how I am able to bypass the enchantments around this place. I promise you I have no ill intentions. May we talk?" His voice was soft and somehow familiar, as if he were just talking to an old friend over a cup of tea.

Hesitantly, Ava crawled out from under the sofa, staring up at the man with soft lavender eyes. He smiled again, taking a seat on the vintage -old- sofa and waiting patiently for her to join him. She leapt effortlessly onto one of the cushions, shifting back into a human form and curling her arms around her knees as she watched him, caution evident in her every movement.

In a gentle tone, he continued. "Where's your father? Is he out?"

Ava shook her head. "No.." She paused for a moment, looking away from him to find the words, "Kind of. I'm not sure where he is."

The man seemed saddened. "Am I to assume that this has been the case for a while now?"

Looking away again, she nodded tentatively. The man sighed. "A terrible shame. Your father was a wonderful person."

Not waiting for him to continue, Ava questioned him in return, still not meeting his eyes. "Who are you?"

"Oh! My apologies. I'm Albus Dumbledore, headmaster of Hogwart's school, although I believe you might already know that." She looked up then, as it clicked to her.

"Oh." Was all she said in return.

He nodded as if that made perfect sense. "I'm here today as it's my place as headmaster to ensure that those who should be at my school learning about magic, in fact are doing so. Especially having learnt that you are here all alone. No young witch or wizard should be forced to brave this world entirely alone." Seeing that she was about to protest, he continued. "I understand that you're afraid, after all I know all about the history of your family, but I promise that Hogwarts is a place of safety. Nothing bad will happen to you there. You deserve to experience the same thing as others do."

Lost for words, Ava let the room fall into silence for a minute.

"If I go, will I have to hide what I am?" She asked softly.

"Of course, sadly. But that's no reason to stay hidden here forever. There is danger in the very act of living, and if I may be quite honest, hiding in seclusion like this seems like no life at all." He catches her eyes towards the end of his words, and she can see the truth in his eyes.

"...Okay. But I want to understand what I'll be walking into first." The old wizard's smile seemed brighter than ever.

* * *

 _A/N, I'm really trying to provide as much backstory as I would like to without just info-dropping everything in this chapter. The next and onwards will be more present-time kind of thing._


	2. Chapter Two

**Chapter Two**

Dumbledore visited a few times in the following months. After that day, she learnt about the ministry and the ban on underage magic, about the history of the school, the houses and classes, school traditions and roles, and what felt like a few thousand other things too. It was a lot to take in for someone who remembered nothing of the world outside of the forest and her books.

For once, she understood her father's face of surprise when she had learnt each of the few basic spell he had set out to teach her over time in all of a few days, with no wand in site. She saw him using his many times, but never realised how essential they were considered in the magical world.

Finally, as the autumn, and the start of her fifth -or more accurately, first- year drew near, Dumbledore decided it was time for her to brave the outside world. Specifically, she needed a wand. For this, he employed the help of one Minerva McGonagall, a professor at the school that he had introduced during one of his visits to Ava earlier in the summer.

Ava grew to like the woman's thin smile quickly. She was on edge and jumping at every noise at they ventured down the cobbled street, Diagon Alley as McGonagall had dubbed it, but the older witch's almost intimidatingly protective stance at her side made her feel more comforted, or as near to it as she could have at the time. The street was almost empty, with it being early in the morning of the day that most students would be travelling to the school via the Hogwarts express, or so she had been told. Only a few older witches and wizards milled about, seemingly in no particular hurry.

McGonagall stopped in front of a small store with bright, warm light flooding out of the high windows on either side of the door. Looking down at the –rather significantly- shorter witch, she clasped her hands. "Well, it's time for you to recieve your first wand."

After breaking an overhead light, almost knocking down a cupboard, and setting one –albeit very minor- fire, Ava left Ollivander's with a rosewood wand, and a deep respect for the friendly, although odd, man who had happily laughed off the damages to his shop.

The older witch took her from store to store picking up all of what she called "essentials", everything from books to robes, and after Ava stopped to stare longingly into a herbology store filled with all different colours of growth, a magical plant so that she might feel more at home away from the forest. As stern as the professor might have acted, Ava could see her caring nature as clear as day. She still wouldn't want to cross her, mind.

Clothes shopping in the stern-looking woman's presence was an especially unusual experience. She'd never had the chance to clothes shop before in her life, but she could only assume that it wasn't supposed to be quite like that.

Needless to say, she came out of the whole experience quite dumbfounded, but more than that, exhausted. It was a lot to deal with in one day, and even then it wasn't quite over, as in all of a few hours' time she was supposed to integrate into school life. Thinking about it as she followed the professor to the leaky cauldron in order to floo to the castle, a shaky feeling filled her.

But she knew she had to take the risk. She couldn't hide away forever, despite what her father might have told her, and she refused to be disillusioned anymore.


	3. Chapter Three

**Chapter Three**

"I feel it would be best to put you in Gryffindor house, where professor McGonagall will be able to look out for you if you require guidance at any time." Dumbledore told Ava, who was sitting across from him at his desk. "Furthermore, she and I are the only ones who know of your heritage. I'm sure you're aware that you absolutely must take the uttermost caution around the other students. It could be troublesome if someone were to find out something they shouldn't." The words were bordering severe, but the headmaster's gentle tone lessened the impact somewhat.

"Of course, professor." She mumbled quietly, staring at her fingers tapping on the desk.

"It would be best if you were to assume a more natural eye colour in your time here, I might add. Purple isn't exact common." He gave a quick wink when he finished talking, and her mouth twitched into a small smile. She concentrated for a second, her irises flooding with a soft brown, and her mass of bright silver hair dulling to a pale grey, for good measure. Standing out couldn't be further from what she wanted when she was starting at the school.

She glanced back up at Dumbledore, who stopped watching to nod approvingly. "That truly is a fascinating talent. I'm afraid I really must request that you stay strictly human during your stay on the school grounds, I'm sure you can understand."

Ava nodded slightly, eyes downcast. A knot was twisting in her stomach. Switching between different forms and looks was part of her nature. The thought of trapping herself in one form for so long was enough to make her feel itchy in itself.

She was lost in her thoughts as he spoke about a few more details, largely things that professor McGonagall had already told her. When he started to give her directions to the tower, saying that there was more than enough time for her to settle in somewhat before the other students arrived and the feast would begin, she was out of the door quickly.

"Bumble will be waiting for you in your room." Dumbledore called as the door shut behind her.

Seeing as she didn't want to stop to let her nerves get the better of her, she turned to follow his directions whilst they were still fresh in her mind. After wondering around for what really couldn't have been more than twenty minutes, but felt like hours, she felt very much lost in the labyrinthine mass of corridors that made up the school. Looking both ways down the well-lit corridor she was in, she couldn't even remember which way she had come up it to start with. At the sound of movement past one end of the corridor, she flinched hard. But after a moment it seemed the natural way to go, after all, she hadn't seen a hint of movement from anything other than the paintings up until then, which was odd at first, but not too odd for someone who grew up with her kind of magic.

Further down, the corridor opened into a far bigger room, with a mishmash of staircase overlapping, and more notably, moving. She couldn't help but think she would definitely end up going the wrong way more than once with staircases that didn't even stay in the same place. Leaning over the railing took her breath away for a moment. The drop past all of the staircases to the bottom floor seemed to go on forever.

This is too much, she thought to herself.

Turning to a painting of a woman in a light Victorian-style dress, sitting by a window with just a cup of tea next to her, and a book in hand, Ava braced herself to speak.

"Ex-excuse me? Sorry, I'm lost?" Her voice came out much quieter than intended.

The woman looked up from her book, kind smile playing on her wrinkles. "Oh hello dear, where were you trying to go? We have students get lost here all of the time." The woman's sympathetic tone was a relief.

"The Gryffindor common room? I think there was a painting I was supposed to find." Ava told her.

"Ah, of course, just up that staircase there, lamb" She said, pointing to her right, "the lady singing will let you in."

"Thanks" Ava breaths a sigh of relief, making her way up the staircase swiftly.

Said lady paused in her singing as Ava approached. "Well aren't you rather early. What's the password?"

Ava stuttered, raking her brain. Did the headmaster tell me a password? He must have. What was it? Her throat choked up a bit as she tried hopelessly to think of what she could say and she could feel panicked tears leap to her eyes as the painted lady watched expectantly.

"Oh, well, the password is kneasle. It is early, after all, you must have just not been notified yet, it's alright. Come on in." Ava's faced flushed at the slight tone of concern in the woman's voice.

"Thanks." She mumbled, hurrying through the portrait hole, into the welcoming warmth of what she knew to be the common room. It was slightly bigger than her whole cottage -not that such a thing was difficult- but somehow easily just as comfortable. There were various couches and armchairs around the room, all decked with heavy throws and blankets, with most of the floor covered in thick rugs. Above the fireplace on one of the walls, a deep red tapestry depicting a roaring lion hung. Overlaying the stone and wood of the room itself, warm shades of red and gold filled the area. Gryffindor was a prideful house, that much she could tell.

Looking at the common room and everything it seemed to stand for, she didn't think Gryffindor was really where she belonged, but standing there, anyone would feel at home.

Taking the staircase on the right, how did I remember that but not the password, Ava entered the dorm that she would be staying in. Much alike the common room, it was filled with red and gold, and felt remarkably homely, especially in contrast to what she was expecting. Five heavily curtained four poster beds –like those she had only read about before- sat in the room, hers against a window to the far right, as Dumbledore had mentioned. Indeed, Bumble was curled up at the end of the bed, tail flicking in content. A hint of amusement hit her at how well he matched the décor.

At the sound of the door opening, the cat lifted its head and meowed happily at her, standing to move onto her lap as she sat on the bed to pet him.

"I'm so glad you're here with me." She whispered. Bumble mewled softly in response, rubbing his cheek against hers to comfort her.

She unpacked her trunk, which had been sitting next to her bed when she came in, to fill the corner of the room that was apparently, as insane as it felt, hers. The plant from Diagon Alley had already been placed on her bedside table, and surprisingly, it looked to be watered. It was a small motion, but one she couldn't help but smile at.

The exhaustion of the day took its toll on her as she curled up on the bed, her mass of grey hair spread out to take up almost as much room as her. Bumble curled up again happily by her feet, his tail tickling against her toes as she fell asleep. He had always been protective to the young witch who understood him more than any human should have been able to.

* * *

Fyi, I'm taking some liberty with almost-canon stuff. Just a little. Nothing too much. Promise. Also; remarkable as it might seem, there will be other people in the next chapter. I'll get to it. Promise 2.0


	4. Chapter Four

**Chapter Four**

Ava woke up to voices. Not opening her eyes, in case they should see that she was awake –chatting in her frightened and half asleep state seemed like a waking nightmare- she carefully listened to the voices, registering them after a few moments of incomprehensible conversation.

"You'd have thought they'd have at least have told us that we were getting a new person in our dorm, wouldn't you?" One of the voices sounded almost offended.

"Totally, but I guess doing so in front of the whole school would've been over the top." Another voice replied.

"You two!" A far more hushed voice hissed, "she's sleeping, stop being so loud, or you'll wake her up."

Faint murmurs came from the other two, and a fourth voice made a noise of agreeance. Ava heard a pair of light footsteps approaching her side of the room and tensed, worried about the sudden presence near the bed. Then she feels something warm and soft fall over her, someone tugging up it to reach her shoulder.

"Lily, what are you doing? You don't know the girl and you're giving her one of your blankets?" The fourth voice whispers.

"I don't need to know her to know that she'll get cold soon. It's her first night here, I'd rather she not be uncomfortable that quickly. Plus, it's only temporary. She's asleep, what do you expect her to do with it?" The girl- Lily, still standing by Ava's bed, responded.

A conceding noise came from the other girl, and Ava could only guess that she was nodding. She heard Lily, as she now knew her to be, get into the bed next to hers. The other girls exchanged goodnight's as she listened, and eventually, with time passing slower than it ever seemed to have before, their breathing turned into light snores. Ava let out a breath she didn't know she was holding.

Brushing her hair from over her face, she looked around the room quickly to check they were all asleep before she slipped out from under the blanket, still fully dressed from the day, and did her best to stay as quiet as possible whilst she pulled her shoes on. Clearly, the girls she was sharing a dorm with weren't all that bad, but she felt like she would suffocate if she stayed in there any longer.

Thankfully, the common room was empty when she went down, which seemed peculiar when she looked at the old grandfather clock standing by the portrait hole. It was barely past nine pm, but it seemed that all of the Gryffindor students had cleared off into their dorm already. She guessed they must have had a lot of catching up to do, although it was an unfamiliar concept. It also meant that she had managed to get a few hours of sleep, but she felt, if anything, more tired than before.

The castle wasn't so hard to navigate when the only aim was to get outside. Soon enough she found a door against the outside wall, granted it was small enough in comparison to the rest of the overly grandiose castle that it certainly wasn't the front door. It wasn't her intention to be picky regardless, a side entrance – or perhaps exit- sounded a million times more convenient than anything she could picture the front door to be.

When she stepped outside, the cool air twisted her hair around her head lightly, and she took a deep breath. Not far away, she could see the lake that she knew to be on the grounds. Professor Dumbledore had warned her away from the giant squid during his talk, but if anything it made her more excited to meet it.

Shivering a little, she made her way down to the lake, passing through a small collection of trees to find somewhere to sit. At the edge of the lake, she stopped to sit looking out, cross-legged on the bank. She leant her face into her hands, breathing slowly and letting her mind go blank to release the flood of nervous energy she had spent all day collecting.

Distantly, there was a bout of raucous laughter. She scrambled up with an undignified squeak, darting behind the nearest tree and peering round to find the source of the noise. A group of boys were making their way through the trees, very undoubtedly heading in her direction. She wanted to slap herself for not paying enough attention to notice them quicker.

The boys pressed closer as her thoughts raced frantically, looking for a way out. When they got too close, she pressed behind the tree entirely. With very little time to think of a better solution, she shifted into a little grey and orange fox, as average as she could think to make herself in that moment. When the boys rounded the tree, three of the four headed past her to sit at the lakeside, whilst the other, apparently rendered completely oblivious in his amusement from whatever boisterous discussion the group had been having, flopped down next to her against the tree.

After a moment he calmed down enough to glance away from the other boys, running a hand through his hair as his eyes rested on her frozen form. For a second he looked startled, but then his mouth pulled into a wide -albeit slightly lopsided- grin, his eyes sparking behind his glasses.

"Aww! Guys, look, there's a fox!" He called to the other boys, a few meters away by the lake. Ava was surprised to find his hand petting her head gently, but the complete lack of hesitation on his part was enough to snap her out of her stupor. She scampered backwards and flattened her ears to her head before taking off through the trees, winding a little bit off path so that they couldn't see her heading towards the castle.

"James, you idiot!" A rough voice called out by the lake, followed by yet more laughter. She lingered around the school grounds as a fox all night after that, the fur providing some very welcome warmth. She didn't want to venture too far away from the castle, in fear that the might not be able to find her way back; which was frankly, ridiculous, considering the rather imposing size of the castle, but the concern was still there.

Eventually, she ended up in the same spot as earlier, although thankfully enough the boys -other students without a doubt- seemed to have vacated long ago. Curled up under the same tree to watch the sun rise, she started to look upon the experience in a more amused light. What kind of stupid do you have to be to pet a –supposedly- wild fox?

Remarkably, she found that even at the crack of dawn, there was food in the great hall. Most importantly, at the crack of dawn, there were no other students in the great hall. She peeled her eyes up the different tables until she found what she was looking for. Coffee. Back home, coffee beans were something she had grown, using charms to keep the plant small enough to fit in the tiny greenhouse set up against the side of the cottage, yet another thing her father had taught her. Enough to get her along by herself, which she didn't really want to think about. She had grown to like coffee, especially in the time after her father left, when she would spent days feeling too aimless to eat or sleep.

With the way her nerves were eating at her in the school, she figured she would need a lot of coffee. Every time she would hear a noise as she was sat down to finish her mug, she would jump, reminded of how she had no clue where she was supposed to be seated in the hall. Four identical tables, no students, and yet she was only supposed to be at one of them. But which one.

When another student finally did walk into the hall, mid yawn, with their yellow tie dangling untied around their neck, Ava thought it might be best to get on with the day herself. It would only get harder to avoid the other students anyway, there was, after all, enough of them.

When she reached the dorm again, after getting lost briefly looking for the common room, she was startled to find another person awake. The bleary-eyed redhead, seemingly in the process of meticulously unpacking her trunk on the bed next to Ava's, seemed just as surprised to see her walk in.

After a beat, her face seemed to light up. "Oh, hey! You must be our new dormmate, right? I'm so sorry we were so late in after the feast yesterday." The girl seemed to emanate enthusiasm. Ava couldn't return the sentiment.

"It's fine." Her voice was barely audible as she turned away from the girl to get her school uniform from where she'd shoved it under the bed last night.

Despite the muted response, the other girl continued on quite happily. "The other girls are impossible to wake up this early, but I'm sure you'll meet them later. I'm Lily Evans, but of course you can just call me Lily. What's your name?"

"Ava..." She paused before quickly tagging on the last name she and Dumbledore had agreed on using, "Bloom." She could only hope that Lily didn't think anything of her hesitance. Before she could say anything in return, Ava clutched her uniform in her arms and rushed into the bathroom on the other side of the room, closing the door behind her quickly.

At least that could have gone worse, she thought morosely as she changed into her uniform. The uniform itself was fine, but she couldn't help but feel slightly embarrassed when she looked at herself in the mirror. In places it was too baggy for her tiny physique, and she couldn't help but feel like a child trying to fit herself into something she's not. She was glad when the long Gryffindor robe swamped her, easily pulling to cover the uniform underneath.

Lily was sat, then dressed in her uniform too, on her bed when Ava walked in. Upon seeing the grey haired girl, she jumped up, beaming once again.

"Hey! Since we're both up, do you want to come and get breakfast with me?"

With a small pang of guilt, Ava told her "I've already had breakfast." She figured that the coffee probably counted.

"Oh, okay," Lily's enthusiasm seemed a little dampened, "well, just tell me if you need anything, it's been nice to meet you. It'll be fun having another Gryffindor in our year."

Nodding a little bit, Ava gave a half wave as she grabbed her bag and left the dorm, trying her best to not come off as too stand-offish. She'd rather not make enemies of anyone she would have to live with until the end of her schooling, but she wasn't looking to be friends with them either. A tinge of sadness bit at her thinking about Lily, who seemed to have the best intentions at heart, but she knew that not getting too close was the best thing that she could do.


	5. Chapter Five

**Chapter Five**

The first class of the day was Potions. Not that Ava could find it.

'In the dungeons', she had been told. As if it was that simple. The dungeons, she had found, weren't nearly as easy to locate as one might have guessed. She leaned against the nearest wall with a tired sigh.

"Ava?" There was a call from down the corridor. "What are you doing out here? Class starts soon." Lily was standing in front of Ava when she finished, eyebrows furrowed. The shorter girl shuffled her feet, letting her hair fall in her face to avoid Lily's gaze.

"I... actually can't find the classroom." She mumbled.

"I can walk there with you, you have potions too, right?" The redhead didn't wait for an answer, carrying on down the corridor. "It's just this way."

When Ava didn't start to follow, Lily turned to give her an encouraging smile. Ava forced a tense smile in return, pushing away from the wall to walk next to the taller girl, who took a route that Ava wasn't convinced she would remember later.

They arrived just as the rest of the class was milling into the room. Lily ushered her through the door, where they stood against the wall with the rest of the students. A pudgy-faced man in awful tweed robes stood at the front of the room, accessing the class decisively.

"Welcome back everyone," his booming voice swept through every crevice of the room, "after certain incidences last year, I've decided that this year it would be best I seat you." Varying groans erupted from the students.

Turning to Ava, Lily whispered softly. "That's Professor Slughorn. He's not as bad as he seems." Watching the man's many chins wobble as he announced each pair of students with excruciating slowness, Ava wasn't overly inclined to believe her.

Lily was placed near the front of the room almost immediately, which Ava thought might say something about the teacher's preferences. Lily certainly seemed to get along well enough with him. She ended up being one of the last students standing, much to her chagrin.

Slughorn looked at her narrowly. "Ah, you must be Miss Bloom, welcome to the class." All eyes in the room seemed to turn to her, leaving her with a prickling feeling. "Could you kindly join Mr Pettigrew," he said, pointing to a stout boy already staring at Ava from the corner of the room, "just over there, if you would."

Nodding slightly, she shuffled over to the desk and sat down, hiding her face in her hands as he directed the last few students. As the lesson started, she could see the boy, Pettigrew, glancing at her repetitively. She was glad when Slughorn announced the potion that they would be making, a simple energy boosting remedy, and her partner went to get the necessary ingredients from the store cupboard. Sparing him a brief look as he walked away, she realized with a start that he was one of the boys who had been out by the lake the night before. With everyone else's back turned to her, she couldn't tell if the others were in that class too.

She ducked her head when he returned to the table, getting on quickly with following the instructions she had found in her potions book whilst he was gone. It was methodical enough that she could lose herself in the different actions, chopping, crushing, adding the ingredients and stirring, again and again. She almost didn't notice the mousey-looking boy watching her –yet again-, not nearly as subtle as he might have thought. Almost.

"Aren't you going to say anything?" He blurted suddenly.

She didn't look up, trying not to see too bothered by the impromptu greeting, if it could be called that. "What's there to say?"

"I don't know," he sounded frustrated, "you're a Gryffindor and I haven't seen you before, shouldn't you be introducing yourself or something?" When she didn't reply, he huffed a little, before thrusting his hand across the table to her. "I'm Peter."

"Ava." She replied after a pause, shaking his hand for a brief moment. Peter seemed satisfied enough with the exchange, returning to preparing ingredients. As the lesson continued, it seemed like they might not work so badly together after all.

As the last ingredient went into the pot, the pair leant over the cauldron, inspecting the concoction within intently.

Peter pulled a face. "Should it have been boiling?" He sounded unsure. She shook her head at him, holding her hair back to stop any getting in the cauldron. The book couldn't have been any clearer on not heating the mixture during the process.

"Are you sure?" He persisted, "it doesn't look quite right. I mean, it is orange like the book said, but it really looks like there's a slight pink tint in there. Are you sure that you did everything right?"

Ava frowned slightly. So it's nothing to do with him if the potion doesn't turn out right?

Cupping a hand in the lukewarm potion, she took a mouthful of the coral-pink liquid. Peter's beady, denim-blue eyes went almost comically wide.

"I think it's fine." She announced dryly, cleaning her hand with a quick swish of her wand before she turned away from the stunned boy to make her concluding notes. There was a muffled guffaw, but there was no sign of the source of the news when she looked up. Her face heated a little when she realized that someone must have been watching their little debate. Everyone had seemed so immersed in their own potions, she hadn't noticed that anyone was paying attention to them at all. Thankfully, they had reached the end of the lesson, with the potion taking so long to finish. It was a small relief, but she would take it. She packed everything up in a hurry and left before anyone else could try and talk to her, leaving Peter to deal with what remained of the potion.

The next few lessons were fairly peaceful, with no practicals or seating arrangements, a welcome reprieve. The most effective method to be left alone seemed to be to sit in one of the back corners before too many people arrived and bury her head in her arms. The vibes her actions gave off clearly didn't scream come-talk-to-me.

It was a near flawless tactic until the last lesson of the day, Herbology, where neither seats nor corners were available to start with. Whilst she felt somewhat like fate itself was screwing her over somewhat in taking away those most basic safeties, she'd been looking forward to the lesson all day and wasn't willing to let that ruin it. Plants were vastly easier to deal with then people, and she needed something easy.

Being inside the greenhouse felt therapeutic, although most of the class seemed fairly unenthusiastic about the lesson contents. Professor Sprout, the young and admittedly quite plump witch who taught the lesson, had given a small explanation on glow-nettle -the plant that they would be handling- before setting them off to pot as many as they could in pairs. The students filtered off into their own pairings like clockwork the moment they were released, but she wasn't bothered about the lack of a partner.

The thing about glow-nettle was that when made unhappy, it was known to secrete a highly-staining, vividly blue, and unsurprisingly, somewhat luminous liquid. The class around her, inexperienced with such a plant, seemed to be having some trouble with it. Ava had potted quite a few of the plants when another student appeared at her side.

"Hey, Bloom." A wiry-figured boy was resting his hand on her table when she looked around, his tall stature made slightly less intimidating by his relaxed posture. Faint scars traced his face, touching the bridge of his nose and trailing across his cheek, and for a moment she couldn't draw her eyes away.

"Hello." Ava replied cautiously.

"Are you alright?" the boy asked softly, his whiskey-brown eyes holding her gaze with an intensity that she hadn't expected. "I saw you swallow that potion earlier."

She nodded swiftly, ignoring the ever-so-slight stars that danced in her vision when she did. "I'm okay, don't worry." It was a lie, she could only hope not a blatant one, but even if she had told the truth it was little to do with the potion; it hadn't helped anything, but it hadn't harmed her either. The lack of sleep, however, was getting to her.

"I just thought I should check," he continued in a mild tone, "I'm Remus Lupin by the way. I'm guessing you have a lot to take in, so you probably don't know many names yet."

"Thanks." Her voice was quiet.

Before either of them could carry on talking, there was an approaching shout.

"Oi, Remus! You're not making me pot these bloody things!"

Remus gave a long-suffering sigh, his head of loose caramel curls bouncing as he faced the newcomer. The approaching boy didn't quite brush Remus's height, but was still nearing a foot on Ava's barely-5'2, and she started to feel less comfortable up against the two of them.

The other boy pouted at Remus. The expression seemed out of place, not fitting with the sharp features that made up his face. The mane of charcoal black hair that brushed his shoulders only threw her off more: it was near impossible to tell whether he'd put an hour of effort into his look, or no time at all. Either way, she envied him somewhat. In comparison to the curled mess of hair that fell down her back, and –frustratingly enough- often across her eyes, it was like putting a sleek black raven next to a rather ruffled up pigeon.

"What're you doing over here?" He asked Remus.

"I was just asking what we were getting wrong with the glow-nettle." Remus replied, inclining his head at Ava. Only then, with a pang of amusement, did she notice the bright blue stains over both boys' hands.

"Oh, you're the girl who almost made Peter shit himself earlier. That was great." It was hard to tell if he was mocking her or if he was always so ribald. His wicked half-smirk made her think the latter was more accurate.

"And this is Sirius," Remus sounded disapproving, but the fond undertone in his voice gave him away, "sorry about him."

"You're apologizing for me?", his outrage sounded more satirical than serious, "you're the one over here making excuses for chatting up the new girl. Isn't she a little scrawny for you?"

Ava flushed, glad that the boys were too focused on each other to notice the pink tinge that tinted her hair before she thought to control it. Usually she would flow through colours depending on how she felt at the time; breaking the habit was taking some work.

Remus made an exasperated noise. "Sirius, I'm obviously not- just shove off, I'll be back in a moment."

Sirius huffed, shifting to stand in front of Ava. "Don't fall for it," he staged whispered, ducking to lean closer as his eyes, shades of grey seeming to shift like clouds in a storm, met hers, "he tries this with everyone." Swinging around to Remus, he pointed accusingly in the other boy's face. "You dog, you!"

" _I'm_ the dog?" Remus rolled his eyes slowly, and she couldn't help the small titter that escaped her, drawing both of the boys' eyes back.

"So you do know how to laugh, remarkable." Sirius sounded smug.

Remus groaned, shaking his head. "Just go already."

Using a hand to gesture from his eyes to Remus, Sirius stalked away. Remus gave her an apprehensive look. "He doesn't really mean that, he just likes to be melodramatic."

"Don't worry," she managed a reluctant smile, "I can tell." The scarred boy chuckled disarmingly, dimples creasing his cheeks for a fleeting moment. His relief was obvious, and a part of her wanted to trust him on an almost instinctive level. She had to remind herself that it was her first meeting with the boy, amiable as he might be.

"On that note, though, what is it we're doing wrong with these horrid things?" Remus glowered at the half-potted glow-nettle on the table.

"You need to be gentle with them." He seemed confused and she stammered slightly. "They're kind of sensitive. If you handle them lightly they'll be fine." Thinking on her feet, she turned back to her latest plant, exampling what she meant to him.

Remus seemed contemplative, his eyes narrowed on the plant for a moment even after she had finished potting it. "I think I get it. Thanks, Ava." It had been a while since she had heard her voice used so warmly. "See you around?"

"Sure, Remus." She withdrew again, starting to move soil into the next pot and not seeing Remus' face fall ever so slightly before he left. 

* * *

_This has been a pretty slow chapter, but it's okay, paces change, as does our perception of time in the real world. I felt like there was more life in this chapter, even if it's a slow start. I enjoyed writing it, so that's a plus. Also, thank you to the few people that've followed/liked this story, I hope you like where it goes!_


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